RBS targets European expansion

The bank is using its balance sheet to break out of the UK market, as the Telecom Italia deal shows

By

Piers Townsend

March 24, 2003 5:00 p.m. GMT

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) wants to shake off the tag of "UK house" and expand its capital markets business across Europe. Headcount in the division grew by a quarter last year and will do the same this year.

Symon Drake-Brockman, head of capital markets within RBS financial markets, says: "We are going through a process of Europeanisation." The path from the UK to Europe was blazed by Barclays Capital, the debt-focused investment bank and loan market leader that has forced its way into mainland Europe...